May 22, 2013

ESPN ranks Cleveland Cavaliers as #4 in NBA

September 26, 2009 by 14 Comments

Let the complaining begin with training camp just about underway this week. The World Wide Leader and NBA reporter Marc Stein put the Cavs behind the big three of the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics to begin the season here in 2009-2010. Discuss among yourselves as here are the comments they made on the team coming off an NBA-leading 66-16 regular season record last year:

4. Cleveland = “The team that was humbled by Orlando added four useful players, headlined by a chap named Shaquille O’Neal. But wouldn’t it be easier, if they want to make sure LeBron stays, just to move to Akron?”

[Marc Stein/ESPN.com] – NBA Basketball Power Rankings

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  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Craig

    Did Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rasheed Wallace invent a time machine over the off-season?

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Jacob Rosen

    Sorry for earlier about the comments being turned off, it happens sometimes in silly WordPress.

    Not exactly sure why we would ever be below the Celtics.. Rasheed Wallace was awful all last season.

  • http://sonsofnev.wordpress.com The Seaward

    In fairness, most in Cleveland don’t think the Cavs should’ve ever left Summi county.

  • http://sonsofnev.wordpress.com The Seaward

    *Summit

  • Kory

    the only reason he really gives for us to be #4 is because LeBron likes Akron more than Cleveland

  • Isis

    Seaward-that’s absurd. The Coliseum was great in it’s day……but the parking sucked. It was a Nick Mileti thing in the day. And nothing was ever built aournd the arena as the great city of Akron had promised. Sorry…..”most” in Cleveland were very happy that the Cavs went home to the city that it represents-CLEVELAND.

  • S-Dub

    Not to mention as the NBA grew the arena in Richfield would’ve never been able to accommodate the demands put on The Q.

    But how can Boston OR Orlando be ranked ahead of us or San Antonio. I could see where people would think The Spurs are better than the Cavs, But BOSTON? REALLY? Is KG even going to be healthy? Ray Allen, can he even make a shot anymore? And Sheed’ doesn’t scare ANY player on the Cavs. Well here’s to another season of HATERS!!!!

  • Matt

    This is a GREAT thing. I hope we are not shown respect all year long. The hype got to these guys’ heads last year and when adversity reared its head, they didn’t quite know what to do, esp. Mo and even LeBron at certain moments.

  • AMC

    @ Matt – dead on. And as good as I think the Cavs will be this year there are some question marks for this team. Unquestionably the talent has improved, but how will Shaq fit? What will Delonte’s situation be, etc. I mean, I think we’re better than the Celtics, but that would be my only gripe. Until we prove we can beat Orlando, they deserve to be rated higher.

    Can’t wait for the season to start!

  • http://clevelandsportsnation.blogspot.com ryan_the_temp

    I think number 4 is fair.

    We definitely aren’t good enough to be number one. We have the least well rounded team at the top of the NBA.

    And if we keeping running the 1 on 5 Lebron offense in important games, we won’t make it past the Eastern Conference Finals anyway.

  • Tsunami

    I don’t mind the disrespect from Stein, but the Cavs are a more dangerous team than last year – and they won 66 games last year. Orlando and LA are still incredibly tough. But I don’t see how Boston is ranked higher than us. I’d take Shaq/Moon/Parker ANY DAY over Rasheed Wallace. And Pierce/Allen/Sheed/Garnet aren’t getting any younger.

    ESPN loves Boston.

  • http://bitmatt.com bitmatt

    Stein will be the absolute last national writer to give any credit to the Cavs. They will remain #4 (or possibly #3 when Garnett is shown to be less than 100%) on this meaningless list for quite some time, so get used to it. I’m not saying the Cavaliers deserve to be higher at this point (I think they are much better than the Celtics though), but Stein seems to have some standing anti-Cavs bias. Not sure why he is held in such high regard by ESPN, in essence he is a beat reporter for the Mavericks. I’m certain nobody was more relieved to find out Dirk’s crazy prison beef wasn’t knocked up. Well, except for Dirk.

  • CJG

    I also think it bears mention that Marc Stein’s team (that he continually professes his love for) are the Spurs. Just how you can trust a guy to make up rankings that fairly evaluate the entire league while harboring a bias for one team is beyond me. That’s why Stein’s rankings are about as much worth to me as the idea of the Cavs actually moving to Akron–just plain silly.

    Stein’s rankings are quite possibly the worst in bias and accuracy you can find on the internet or in print. Which is why I stopped looking at them last season.

  • JM

    How bout we stop complaining and appreciate the fact that our basketball team is legit and a top team unlike our other sorry teams? I disagree with the rankings but at least we will be good.